Artist Weaves Lasers In VR Dance Performance

The project is an experiment to see how common VR applications can be channeled to enhance performance art.

Using Tiltbrush, a Google-made, three-dimensional painting tool available via on-demand gaming platform Steam for the HTC Vive, virtual realist Danny Bittmann experiments in Scribbler by combining dance and various positional strokes to visualize his performance. Using high-level mixed reality techniques, which often involve green screening and using a third vive controlled mounted to a camera for calibration, Bittmann creates dynamic compositions that look as if he’s playing with floating beams of multicolored electricity.

The entire performance is made live, and, with exception to moments when certain movements run in reverse, very little post-processing is incorporated. While Bittmann hasn’t yet announced exactly how he’s achieved the effects he plays around with in the video, perhaps more work (this time with a deeper dive into his process and documentation) will arise, detailing the steps he took to achieve these various effects. In the mean, if you can handle not knowing the how and simply immerse yourself in snake charmer-like rhythm and dance, you’ll likely enjoy the flowy, tech-infused chillstep track laid over some highly visual interpretive dance.